ParticipACTION’s Mass Media Campaigns

Throughout its three decades of existence, the English and French
mass media throughout Canada were the most significant contributors
to the success of the ParticipACTION program.

All of the extensive media exposure was classified as “public
service advertising (PSA)” with the time or space completely
donated by the respective media. Thanks to the financial support
of Health Canada, ParticipACTION was able to have high quality,
contemporary advertisements professionally prepared – at very
economical rates.

Through personalized distribution, these advertisements were then
provided to appropriate media outlets who donated the air time or
print space.

During its peak years, 1975 – 1995, ParticipACTION’s
national campaign was supported by:

350 television and cable stations

580 radio (AM and FM) stations

110 daily newspapers

950 weekly newspapers

1,100 commercial/professional magazines

1,100 corporate publications and associations newsletters

Counting both English and French language advertisements, the three
decades ParticipACTION campaign produced a total of 533 television
messages and 549 radio messages. (This web site contains a limited
sampling of these many messages.)

The assessed value of the donated media exposure over three decades
was in excess of $280 million (Canadian). For most years, for every
one dollar of public funding invested in the production of advertisements
for the mass media campaign, ParticipACTION received in
excess of fifteen dollars in exposure value from its media
supporters.

Some ParticipACTION “theme-messages” employed a coordinated
approach for television, radio and print. Other “theme-messages”,
primarily due to available production funds, utilized just one type
of media.

Further, some media campaigns were supported by resource materials
distributed to community-based leaders in order that they may build
upon the public awareness of the high profile media campaign.